


The Mutual Killing Game: Absolute Despair

by TheCheeseCat



Series: The Mutual Killing Game [2]
Category: Dangan Ronpa: Another Episode, おそ松さん | Osomatsu-san (Anime)
Genre: Bonding, Death & Destruction, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Apocalypse, Sibling Bonding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-08
Updated: 2016-10-09
Packaged: 2018-08-20 04:34:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8236241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCheeseCat/pseuds/TheCheeseCat
Summary: No one can remember the events that took place during The Mutual Killing Game, no one except you, that is, and everyone thinks you're crazy for it. In an attempt to keep the victims memories alive, you've been keeping a journal and writing down anything you can remember about them. One day, someone unexpected shows up, a page goes missing, and the world around you is plunged into chaos.





	1. Memory

_**Prologue** _

 

“What did you just say?” you spoke as you looked up at Karamatsu, searching his eyes for some kind of joking motion, waiting for him to laugh and just say he was kidding. But he looked genuinely confused as you questioned what he said.

“I . . . who's Osomatsu? Are you making up names again?” he said, taking a step back from you.

“Who's . . . he's your older brother! He gave up everything to save Choromatsu!”

“. . . Choromatsu?”

You stared in shock and awe, he didn't know who. . .

“Ichimatsu?”

He shook his head, leaning himself back on the railing as the setting sun started to sink farther below the waterline.

“They're . . . your brothers . . .” you started to speak.

“I only have 2 brothers. Jyushimatsu and Todomatsu. We're triplets!”

Triplets?! No! No no no!

“No, Karamatsu! You have three other brothers! They all-- . . . we were trapped--”

“You need to calm yourself, baby.” he sighed out and leaned forward, wrapping an arm around your shoulder. “I know your trip was pretty rough, maybe you should have gotten some rest before coming to see me.”

This didn't make sense, none of this made sense. How could he forget? How could he forget everything that had happened. You had been on a trip? Was that his excuse?

Were you really the only one that remembered?

You took several steps back from him, shaking your head. One more try.

“. . . What about Chibita? Dayon? Hatabo?”

“. . . Who are they?”

It felt like you were punched in the gut, and you took several more steps away, until you were almost a foot away. Karamatsu started towards you, but stopped when he saw you pull out your phone. Your fingers jammed over the screen before you used your thumb to scroll.

 

**Search Results for: Hashimoto Nyaa**

**No Results Found**

 

They never existed? This couldn't be true, this shouldn't be real! You remember everything that happened, all the horrors of watching your friends die, watching Osomatsu give up his life for his brother. YOU SAW ALL OF IT!

So why . . . where were they now?

“Something's wrong with you, MY HONEY.” Karamatsu reached you finally and pulled you back into a grip, holding you against his chest. “Allow me to escort you home so that you may recover from your long trip!”

“No wait. . .” you huffed out, struggling a little against his chest. Why was he so close to you right now anyway, treating you like you were dating? Not that you minded the concept of it but right now wasn't the time!

“Take me back to your place.”

Karamatsu did as you asked, and brought you back to the Matsuno household. You had never been to his house, because of the fact that you had met in the game, but when you stepped into the doorway, you were greeted like you had been here multiple times before.

“Hey there--” Matsuyo began to speak when she saw you enter the home with Karamatsu, but stopped and looked a little concerned. “Dear, are you alright? You look terrible!”

“They're still recovering from their trip, mother dearest.” Karamatsu said, leaning in to nuzzle his nose against the side of your face. You started to lean away from his touch, which caused him to recoil his hands from you. He wasn't going to be touching you if you didn't want it, which your body language was surely telling him so.

“Where's Jyushimatsu? Todomatsu?” you said, looking around the house as you tried to scrape memory of the layout. If people assumed you had been here before, maybe you had? But nothing was showing up.

“HAI HAI! JYUSHIMATSU DESU!” Jyushimatsu's voice called out as he rushed to the front of the house where everyone was, his eyes settling on you and lighting up like he had seen an angel. However that look faltered and that smile left his face when you reached out and grabbed him by the shoulders.

“Osomatsu!” you shouted at him, causing him to tilt his head in confusion at you.

“Wah? No, I'm Jyushimatsu!”

“No, your brother!”

“He's right there!” he smiled brightly before pointing over your shoulder towards Karamatsu.

“What's going on out here?” Todomatsu asked as he made his way over to where everyone else was, but instantly squeaked out when you traded Jyushimatsu for him.

“You remember him, right? _Right?!_ ” you pleaded as you held onto his shoulders.

“Remember who?” he asked, blinking a couple times at your question.

“OSOMATSU!”

“. . . I don't know anyone by that name.”

You released him and took a few steps back, looking back and forth between everyone. Surely his own mother would remember him, right? You locked your eyes on hers, and she must have seen the tension before she came forward and leaned in closer, placing a hand against your forehead.

“Do you need to lay down? I can get the guest futon out.” she insisted.

“Please . . .” you pleaded again, shaking your head. “Someone has to remember them . . . anyone. . . I can't be the only one!”

Todomatsu had wandered off, coming back with the family album to which he opened to a random page. “Look, see? There's only three of us.”

You stared down at the pages and slowly took hold of the book, flipping through it. There was only 3 boys in these pictures. Osomatsu, Choromatsu, Ichimatsu? They didn't even _exist here in the first place._ The album fell to the floor from your shaking hands, you brought one hand up to cover one of your eyes as tears started to fall.

How could this happen? How could they not exist, when you had seen them with your own eyes? How could an entire world forget they were even alive?

“Karamatsu!” Matsuyo called out, and he was already tugging you against him, looking towards his mother with a lost expression.

 

_**Six Months Later** _

 

“Angel! We're going to be late if you don't take wing and hurry!”

_Something's going on._

“Honey Dove?”

_You could feel it, something wasn't right, it was off._

“Hey!”

“Hnnh?!” Your attention snapped up from the notebook in front of you, your eyes settling on the man standing next to you wearing a fine tailored suit. For a moment, you forgot who he was, you were so used to seeing him either in that iconic hoodie or his normal getup. Seeing Karamatsu in a fitted suit was . . . nice.

“Are you okay?” he asked, leaning over you with a hand on your shoulder to look at the notebook on your desk. It was filled end to end with your memories of everyone else that you had lost during the events of The Mutual Killing Game. Each page was filled with a small sketch of them you tried to make from memory, while the rest was what little information you could recall about them. The page was opened up onto Choromatsu.

“Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry I got a little into my work.” At least that's what you had told him it was.

“Heh, these characters for your story are really flattering.” Karamatsu said with a smug grin and a small brush back of his hair. “To think you gather so much inspiration from me!”

“Haha, yep.” you answered quickly with a forced quip and stood up from your desk, causing the chair to smack back into Karamatsu. No one else could remember, so you had to be the one to do it. You became obsessed with keeping their memory alive in any way you could, and writing it all down seemed to be the only way. You had convinced Karamatsu that all these characters were for a book you were planning to write, and of course you took inspiration from him and his brothers.

It always hurt a little bit when you had to lie to him though.

“A-Anyway, are you almost ready?” he asked, dusting off his suit a little bit and combing back his hair.

“Give me a moment to get dressed.” you said in a flat tone before reaching to push him out of the bedroom by his back. It had been some time since you officially started dating, at first you were only using him as an excuse to get closer to the rest of his family, to see if you could find any clues still lingering about on anyone else. But after a while of falling under the rouge, you started to see how genuine Karamatsu was with you, how really in love he had fallen.

You had started to feel it too, spending days with him at the park where he would do his best to keep up his cool facade, you'd laugh when it was interrupted by something stupid like him not paying attention and running into a tree, or the time when he knelt down on one knee and proposed to you. Okay maybe you shouldn't have laughed at that one but he quickly covered it up by saying he meant proposing to move in together. You told him only if he got a job, and the change you saw in him was almost mesmerizing.

He put everything he had into finding work just so he could be with you, every day he'd leave to turn in applications, you let him use your phone number for call backs and one day, he got something. It was a desk job, but it was something, and so after maintaining the work, you allowed him to move in. Things started to get a little more intense after all of that. You two might as well have been married at this point, because you did almost everything together. For tonight, you were both heading out to dinner to meet with his parents and brothers, to catch up with them.

Every time you were all together, it still hurt.

You got dressed and once you were in order, you stared at the notebook, looking at the quickly sketched picture of Choromatsu. A sigh escaped and you turned, opening the door to head out.

“Alright, I'm ready to go.”

\---

When you arrived, everyone else was already there, sitting around a large table since you were a large party to begin with. Karamatsu had his arm around your waist as you both headed towards the table, but it felt like something was off as you stepped closer. You smiled as you approached, waved to his mother and father, bowed your head in greeting to Jyushimatsu, Todomatsu, Choromat--

Your eyes went wide as you stopped dead in your tracks, staring transfixed at the table. Karamatsu had to stop as well since he still had his arm around you. He was there . . . sitting at the table and laughing at something Jyushimatsu said, but after a moment, his head turned to look towards you . . . and he smiled.

What was this sudden feeling of dread?

“Why is he--” you started to speak, looking between Choromatsu and everyone else, their attention all turned on you.

“Is something wrong?” Matsuzo said, brows furrowed a little in concern.

“. . . That's Choromatsu!” You suddenly shouted out, point your finger at him. Choromatsu blinked, mouth turned in a frown as you accused him of . . . existing.

“Yes, that's Choromatsu.” said Todomatsu, glancing up from his phone to look towards you.

“But you guys-- . . . where was-- . . . H-He shouldn't be here!”

“That's a little rude, Honey Bee.” Karamatsu pulled his arm away from you and frowned as he looked at you.

“NO! HE WASN'T HERE! YOU GUYS DIDN'T KNOW WHO HE WAS!” you shouted, causing attention of the restaurant to turn towards you.

“. . . What are you talking about? I've always been here.” said Choromatsu, making a small, nervous laugh.

“Y-You're supposed to be dead-- wuh!” You started to try and explain yourself, but Karamatsu caught you by the shoulders and started to lead you away.

“Excuse us a moment, my family!” He called out nonchalantly, leading you off to a seclusive corner of the restaurant. Once he had you away from everyone else, he brought a hand up to gently grab your chin, making sure you were solely focused on him.

“Are you feeling well? We don't have to do this if you're not up to it.” he said, his voice incredibly gentle.

“N-No, you don't understand! Choromatsu . . . he's not supposed to--”

“My brother?”

_Karamatsu, what in the **FUCK?**_

“What do you mean, your brother?!”

Karamatsu let out a small “Heh.” before pulling his hand away from your chin, his eyes closed and fingertips pushed slightly to his forehead.

“Choromatsu is my younger brother, remember? We're Quadruplets.”

_ KARAMATSU, WHAT IN THE  **FUCK?!** _

What in the hell was going on?! How was everyone fine with this?! He wasn't here before and suddenly he was part of the family again?!

“I have to leave.” you suddenly blurted out, working your way out from being cornered by him.

“Baby--”

“I'll see you at home!”

You left the restaurant quickly, before Karamatsu could say anything else to try and get you to stay, and rushed home as fast as you could with what transportation options you had. Once you arrived, your shoes flew off at the doorway and you ran directly to your bedroom, over to the notebook you had left resting on the table.

_ There was nothing on the page. _

It felt like your heart both stopped and leaped up into your throat. You quickly flipped through the pages, seeing that everyone else's pages were still there, only Choromatsu's had vanished. The page was completely clean like it had never been written on in the first place. You dropped the book to your bedroom floor, taking a few steps back to land your rear on the bed and just . . . hold your head. Your eyes were wide and shaking as you tried to process what was going on. You saw him die! You saw him die you saw him die you saw him-- wait.

You stared hard at the floor as you tried to remember what happened. He was attacked by the beast Mononeko, you remember that much, you saw him get stuck down but . . . you never actually saw him die. But none of that explained why everyone was acting like he had been here the entire time. Why the page in your notebook was blank of any information on him.

You lifted your head at the sound of the front door opening, Karamatsu calling out your name while flipping on the light. There was one more thing you needed to check. You stood up from the bed and walked past Karamatsu as he started to say your name again, only to be completely ignored. You stopped in front of the wall that had several pictures of you with Karamatsu and his family members.

. . . What?

He was in these pictures. Choromatsu was part of all the group pictures, like he had been there in all of them.

What was GOING ON?!

“Help me. . .” Your voice barely squeaked out.

“Help you?” said Karamatsu, turning to face you.

“Help me understand. I DON'T UNDERSTAND!”

Karamatsu turned you around to face him fully and once more pulled you up against his chest, hiding his face against your neck while he hugged you firmly. At least he had learned that he normally held you too tightly and adjusted accordingly. Tears started to well up in your eyes as your brain tried to wrap around what was going on. Was there something wrong with you? At this point everyone else probably thought so. How could you go back to face that family after shouting at their son that he should have been dead?

“We'll get you some help, my angel.” Karamatsu whispered against your ear and gave you a firm, reassuring squeeze.

 

_**Three Months Later** _

 

“We're going to be late to your appointment, my sunbeam!” Karamatsu called for you from the front door as he was already getting his shoes on. You, however, hadn't even gotten out of bed yet. He had been taking you to see a therapist for your “episodes” and while everyone else thought you were making progress, you knew better. You told the therapist about what you were going through, the memories of The Mutual Killing Game, everyone that died. It was written off as nightmares to look into. But you knew they were real. You knew all if it had happened. You _lived through it._

“I'm not going.” you finally said something as Karamatsu poked his head into the doorway of the bedroom.

“You have to go if you want to get better, turtle dove.” he said with that same smile that always managed to get you to do anything he wanted. The man was an absolute saint for staying with you despite you apparently being mentally insane.

“It's not helping.” you tried to reason, and he sighed and rolled his eyes before walking in, sitting down on the side of the bed. You had the covers pulled up to hide everything but the top of your head, to which he used to gently run his fingers through your hair.

“It may not seem like it's helping, but I've seen improvement in you, my love.”

He was a god damn liar.

“One more time, for your muse?”

You pulled the covers down just enough so you could glare up at him, staring at that stupid smile and the look of absolute adoration in his eyes whenever he looked at you.

Sometimes you hated it.

“Fine.” you grunted out, pushing the covers off yourself. Time to get dressed, you guess.

\---

You were late for your appointment, so of course they'd make you wait longer, wouldn't they? You sat with Karamatsu in the waiting room as your gaze stuck to the floor, barely listening to the low volume radio that was playing. You occasionally looked up to the large fish tank that was in the middle of the room, something to occupy patients attention while they waited to spill their life problems to someone who probably only half listened. You didn't want to be here, and your gaze followed one of the tropical fish that swam along the side of the tank, black and white. What were they called, Angel Fish? You barely noticed Karamatsu looking at you as your attention locked on that single fish.

“This is a state of emergency! I repeat, this is a state of emergency!”

Your attention tore away at the sound of the warning being broadcast over the radio.

“This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill! Evacuate the city immediately! If you cannot escape, please find safety!”

“Huh?” Karamatsu murmured and leaned forward a little, looking up the the ceiling where the sound was coming from. A state of emergency? Was there a tsunami?

“Karamatsu--” you started to speak, but he seemed to already know what idea you were going for. He grabbed your hand and pulled you to a stand, starting to leave the office before the glass window to the office slid open. The nurse called out your name, looking rather disinterested as she stared down at her clipboard.

“Uh, we're going.” you said, she lifting her head to look at you.

“But your appoint--” she started to speak, but her voice was drowned out by the sound of shattering glass, and was soon replaced by a garbled scream. You turned around to see what had happened, and the sight had you frozen in place.

Blood had been splattered against the glass window, the nurse's hand and discarded clipboard hung out of it while something blocked the view of inside. Hunched over, whatever it was slowly started to rise. You recognized it, and apparently Karamatsu did too as he stared with as much shock as you were. Blood dripped from long, steel claws as the thing turned around to face the both of you, one half of it white, the other black and sinister looking.

**Mononeko.**

At least, his model anyway. This one was a lot bigger, a lot more deadly looking, and it's actions were certainly backing up that suspicion. You expected it to laugh when it opened it's mouth, but you were instead given a roar that could have been from a tiger if you didn't know any better.

“KARAMATSU!” you shouted his name, and he snapped out of his daze just in time to dart out of the building with you, the Mononeko making pursuit. You were starting to fall behind because you couldn't quite keep up with his speed, so he ended up scooping you up into his arms and running with you, but once you guys got out of the building, you were greeted with the sight of chaos.

It looked like Ragnarök had started, everything was a disaster, bodies littered the streets while survivors were running for their lives from the large Mononeko that were chasing them down. You couldn't look away, all the death in destruction that had already happened. You had only been in the building for an hour, right?

“. . . We've got to check on everyone else.” Karamatsu said, already taking off to run down the street, still hanging onto you. You looked behind you as the two of you were leaving one major concentration of the chaos behind, watched as the Mononeko would hack and slash at already dead bodies, chase down anyone and everyone. There was no discrimination to who they would kill. You eventually couldn't stand it anymore and had to shove your face in against his chest to avoid looking at the chaos anymore.

What were the Mononeko doing here?! You left that world! There shouldn't have been anyway for them to follow! Somehow, this seemed like a familiar scene. Karamatsu was starting to run out of breath as he ran, and one misstep had caused him to trip forward, landing against the pavement of the road and sent you flying from his arms. Your back slammed into an abandoned car, head bouncing off the metal and causing a momentary daze to come over you. Your hands came up to hold your head, vision going in and out of focus as you looked in front of you to see Karamatsu slowly pushing himself up, blood running down his forehead. He must have hit his own head in the fall.

You couldn't see all that straight, but what you could see was one of the Mononeko slowly lumbering up behind him. It growled, paw held out as those long steel claws extended, already soaked in the blood of it's other victims.

“NYAAHAHA!!” There was the laugh.

“KARAMATSU!!”

You reached your hand out to try and either stop it from happening, or at least grab onto him. That paw swiped down, and it was like your entire life flashed before your eyes.

Not this again, anything but this!

Instead of the sound of metal rending flesh, you heard a hard clang. You focused, watching as the Mononeko's head went flying back into the distance and it's body fell backwards. W-What happened?

“HAHAHA!! HOME RUN!!” Jyushimatsu called out, raising his baseball bat up above his head. Standing behind him was Choromatsu, eyes wide while Todomatsu was hiding behind him, looking around his shoulder.

At least . . . they were safe.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao you thought the ride was over didn't you?  
> (There's a lot of inspiration from Another Episode here if you couldn't tell, so I set the tags accordingly.)


	2. The Notebook

You wasted no time crawling your way towards Karamatsu and pulling him against you once you got your barrings back, your attention shifting between him and his brothers. Jyushimatsu looked like he was in a world of his own, laughing all the while as that bat was used to smash in another Mononeko's face.

“What the hell is going on?” asked Choromatsu, walking up next to you with Todomatsu in tow. “These things look like those cats you were trying to explain to us.”

“Because THEY ARE.” you spat out, looking over your shoulder at him before lifting Karamatsu's hair to make sure he wasn't too terribly hurt.

“Mono . . . neko?” asked Todomatsu, finally standing on his own as he watched Jyushimatsu whack at another one. “Jyushimatsu nii-san! Please be careful!”

“You believe me now?” you slowly came to a stand as you spoke, helping Karamatsu to his feet.

“But why . . . are they here?” Karamatsu forced out, turning his attention towards the sounds of screaming in the distance.

“I-I don't know.” you muttered, staring down at one of your own hands. Was this your fault? Was your crazy ranting enough to cause these things to appear here?

“Choromatsu, where's Mom and Dad?” asked Karamatsu.

“They're out of town, so I assume they're safe.” he answered, watching Jyushimatsu return to everyone's side. A bit of static was heard as a TV in a shop window tried it's best to keep on, your attention set on the news broadcast going on.

“Attention viewers, this is a state of emergency! Odd creatures of nightmare are attacking people in the streets, they're killing anyone in sight! I beg you to find shelter before it's too late-- GAAH!!”

The reporter was mowed down by a Mononeko, it standing on his body and repeatedly stabbing it's claws into him. The screen flickered, but you could see something try to get up onto the desk, a little more maneuvering--

“Ugh, ah. Here we . . . go! Sheesh these desks are high. AHEM! GREETING VIEWERS! Or at least those of you that are still alive. NYAAHAHA!”

It felt like your blood had run cold. It was him, the real one.

“If you're seeing this broadcast, it means that this city belongs to me now! What would I want with a city full of humans, you ask? Well I was going to set up a game! But there's WAY TOO MANY people here! I gotta thin the heard, you know? This isn't the game I was hoping for, but it's close enough! What are the rules of this game? They're simple, really. SURVIVE! If you can survive the end of the world, you're already a winner, aren't you? NYAAHAHA!!”

“I'm sick . . .” you groaned out and stepped back, holding a hand over your stomach and mouth. “I'm gonna be sick!”

“So let me explain what's going on, for those of you that don't know or are in too much of a panic to notice!” Mononeko continued. “This entire city is run by me now, you can call me Mayor Mononeko if you want! I control everything electronic here, I might as well be the entire city! Oh, and don't worry, your plight isn't going unnoticed! I have cameras broadcasting this around the world! I'm already spreading across this country, you know. Pretty soon, Japan is going to be labeled as a disaster zone!”

Mononeko suddenly clasped his paws together, swaying his hips back and forth as he made a mock feminine voice. “B-But, Mr. Mononeko! The military! Help from other nations!”

He quickly switched back to his more sinister demeanor. “I got that all taken care of! Here, look!”

Reaching forward, Mononeko messed a bit with the camera before the feed cut to a military base, or rather what used to be one. Dead soldiers littered the ground, gunshots were heard firing, screaming and chaos were all that you could hear and see. The screen cut back to Mononeko's face and he leaned back in this seat, twirling around in it.

“They're all too busy saving their own hides to deal with you chumps! NYAAHAHA! Also this place is now a no-fly zone! Ooo! Here watch this one! IT'S GOOD!”

Again the camera flickered to a different scene, focused in on a helicopter up in the skies flying towards the shore. The scene changed again to what looked like weapons, rocket launchers turning to face where the helicopter was flying in. The pilot called over the radio for them not to shoot, but within seconds of his demand, the missiles launched, flying towards the machine and hitting it dead-on in the middle of the air. The explosion shook the camera feed before it switched back to a laughing Mononeko, holding his gut and swirling around in his chair more.

“Anything getting close will be shot down without question! Interfering with the game is AGAINST THE RULES! With all that being said, good luck and let's paint the world with your DESPAIR! NYEEHE! NYAAHAHA!!”

The feed cut to an end, showing a “Please Stand By” screen in it's place. The five of you stood there in complete silence as you still stared at the screen, then you turned your head quickly to look towards Todomatsu and Jyushimatsu.

“Do you remember now?!” It was a long shot, but maybe seeing the Mononeko again would jar their memories back into place.

Jyushimatsu looked like he had a intense look on his face, bringing his sleeve covered hand down and resting it over his mouth as he stared at the ground. After a few moments, he simply shrugged and had that smile back on his face.

“Nope! Nothin'!”

You let out a small grunt of irritation at his response and looked towards Todomatsu and Choromatsu, who both shook their heads as well. There had to be something, anything! How could they not remember this symbol of despair?! It was then when an idea struck you, and you turned your full attention on Choromatsu.

“Choromatsu, lift up your shirt!”

“H-Huh?” he stammered out.

“LIFT UP YOUR SHIRT!”

You didn't even wait for him to comply, regardless if he was going to or not, you jumped at him and started grabbing at his hoodie, trying to lift it up. Choromatsu made a noise that sounded almost like a screech as he struggled with you, but he didn't seem to be able to match your determination, and ended up having his midriff exposed as you lifted his hoodie and the shirt underneath it.

“LOOK!” You found something that both eased and disturbed you, along his side was a series of scars, claw marks from the look of it.

“. . . Choromatsu nii-san?” Todomatsu spoke softly as he looked at the scars.

“He got these from a Mononeko before all this happened! Don't you remember what you said? You wanted to die doing something Osomatsu would be proud of! You have these scars because you sacrificed yourself to save others! If anyone should remember what happened, it's you, Choromatsu!”

Choromatsu stared down at the scars for a long while, or tried to anyway. You eventually lowered his shirt back down, showing the tears rolling down his face. His eyes closed and he bit down on his bottom lip as he tried to contain them, brows knitted together. You stepped back a moment to watch him, before he started to wail and the tears flowed. The other brothers looked at him in confusion as you moved in closer and pulled him into a hug.

“I'm sorry!” he cried out, holding onto you tightly. “I remember now!”

“It's okay.” you tried to reassure him, only to blink when you felt an additional pair of arms go around the both of you. It was Karamatsu, tears streaming down his cheeks. More arms joined the group hug, belonging to Todomatsu and Jyushimatsu, all five of you bawling against each other. Did they remember? Choromatsu did, and that was one step to proving you weren't crazy! But it was more important for them to remember what Osomatsu did, to remember Ichimatsu and everyone else.

“. . . I can't remember faces or names, but I know they existed.” said Choromatsu. You pulled back from them, wiping the tears from your eyes before looking to Karamatsu.

“We need to get back home. My notebook has everyone in it and it might help you guys remember them fully.”

“I'll get the car.” he said without hesitation, but you grabbed onto his arm just as he turned around, causing him to look over his shoulder at you.

“WE'LL get the car. It's too dangerous to be wandering around alone!” you told him, voice stern.

“. . . You're right, daffodil.” said Karamatsu, soft smile on his face. There was a sudden snort from behind you, causing you to whip around to see Todomatsu and Jyushimatsu in a giggling fit.

“Daffodil? Karamatsu nii-san, you're still as painful as ever I see.” the youngest brother snickered out.

“You will understand the love we share when you find your own light in the darkness!” Karamatsu spoke in a dramatic tone before leaning in to try and kiss your cheek. Of course this was already embarrassing enough, so your hands were shoving at his chest while you hissed out and tried to push him away.

“STOP STOP STOP GO TO THE CAR NOW!!”

\---

The five of you carefully made your way to the car, doing your best to avoid being seen by the Mononeko roaming the streets. A few of them were still busy completely mutilating people, while others were walking along the road of destruction they left behind, looking for more people to kill. Karamatsu got into the driver's side as he always did, (he liked to drive you around because “the hands of someone so pristine shouldn't be stressed by driving”) while everyone else climbed in the back and you slinked in to the passenger side. You all had to duck down a couple times when a few roaming Mononeko moved by the vehicle, but once it was safe, Karamatsu started the car and peeled out of the parking lot you had left it in.

While he concentrated on the road, you turned your attention to the three brothers in the back, each of them looking sullen as they stared down at the floor. You let out a quiet sigh and turned, reaching to grab for Choromatsu's hand, and when you did, his head shot up to look in your direction.

“I know this probably isn't the best time to talk about this, but I wanna know . . . how did you get home? Do you remember?” you asked, trying to sound as delicate as possible.

Choromatsu let his eyes flick away from you in a bit of thought, then once more his gaze stared at the floor. “I . . . don't remember.”

“Anything?”

“I remember the game . . . faces are blurry, I remember getting hurt, but after that . . . it's completely blank. I just remember waking up one morning and being here.”

“That's what it was like for us as well.” said Todomatsu, turning his attention from his phone to look at you. “We woke up like it was a completely normal day. There was always a nagging feeling in the back of my mind, but I didn't really think anything of it.”

“The cats . . . don't hang around anymore.” said Jyushimatsu, his voice trembling as he stared out the window closest to him. You looked at him before your heart lurched a little in your chest. He must have been referencing to Ichimatsu.

You pulled your hand back from Choromatsu's and turned your attention to ahead on the road. Despite being slightly inept at everything else, Karamatsu was a pretty good driver. He managed to maneuver around piles of debris, dangerous areas, but the car came to a sudden stop when he had hit a dead end. The street you lived on was blocked by more abandoned cars, not enough room for you to even squeeze your own through.

“Looks like this is our stop.” said Karamatsu, pushing down his shades over his eyes.

“We'll have to walk the rest of the way, are you guys okay with that?” you asked, turning around to look at the three behind you. They all nodded while Jyushimatsu picked up his bat from the floor of the car. Well at least one of them was combat ready.

All of you got out of the car, staring on at the sight of burning buildings, some of them already toppled and destroyed. Bodies still lined the streets and it certainly looked like a scene out of a nightmare or some horror movie. You almost couldn't believe that this was real, this was happening. You swallowed hard and Karamatsu reached over to take your hand, to give you courage and reassurance. You nodded your head to him in affirmation and started to walk with everyone else down the street. A couple times you had to hide as more Mononeko prowled the area, but eventually you managed to reach where you lived, shaking hands trying to put the key in the lock. You managed to, with help from Karamatsu steadying your hand and once the door was open, everyone filed inside.

You started to head to the bedroom to get your notebook, but stopped a moment, looking towards the pictures you had on the wall. Osomatsu and Ichimatsu still weren't present in them, which was sort of a relief in it's own. To see them there would mean that they were alive somewhere, when you saw with your own eyes that both of them had died. You knew they had died.

You moved into the bedroom, but stopped just in the doorway as you stared at the drapes that moved in the slight draft of outside. The window had been shattered. You didn't move, but you could feel the chill crawling up your spine, you felt like something was in the room, watching you from somewhere.

The overwhelming feeling of dread was almost unbearable. Like you couldn't breathe.

Your notebook was laying on the desk, if you could just sneak in and grab it, you wouldn't have to stay in here for long. You tried to get your body to move, but it was like you were frozen in fear, you couldn't even speak. Your eyes glanced to the notebook and a low growl echoed about the room, another shock to your system. Your heart was racing, why couldn't you move?! A hard gulp, you willed yourself to at least make a jolt for the book, and your feet finally peeled from the ground, hand reaching to snatch it up.

Or you would have, if it wasn't suddenly pinned down to the desk by steel claws.

You almost hadn't noticed the pain at first, because it was such a shock. You stared at the sight of your hand pinned down with those claws going through it, the blood starting to pool under your palm. Then you realized what was happening, you screamed as the Mononeko roared out.

You heard the brothers yell your name, Karamatsu the first to slide into the doorway, but was pushed aside almost immediately by Jyushimatsu. Bat raised behind him, he swung hard at the cat's head, causing a dent to form and the claws to pull from your hand from the impact alone. That red eye sparked, focused in and out on Jyushimatsu and those claws raised again. They missed, or at least you thought they did. The Mononeko stabbed it's claws right into your notebook and pulled it towards itself, then once it had the book in it's mouth, it escaped out the broken window. Jyushimatsu moved to chase after it, but stopped once it was out the window. Wasn't any use chasing it out there.

Once you realized you could pull your hand back, you did so, leaving a trail of blood in it's wake. You held your own hand tightly against you chest, teeth grit as you tried to deal with the pain. Karamatsu was already on the job of trying to mend it as best he could, having grabbed the first aid kit after being shoved aside.

“Hold still, my dove.” he cooed softly to you and tried to pry your hand from against your chest, a bit of a struggle but you eventually let him tend to your wounds.

“M-My notebook. It took my notebook.” you stammered out, staring out the broken window. Anyone else, it probably wouldn't have been a big deal, but you poured so much of your memories into that record. It might have been the only thing that could get them all to fully remember! Something wasn't right about any of this.

“Jyushimatsu.” Karamatsu said once your bandages were wrapped tight around your hand.

“HAI!”

“Did you manage to see where it went?”

Jyushimatsu nodded his head several times before his brows knitted together and he gave that bat a few swings. Karamatsu nodded his head in return, and brought his attention to you, Choromatsu and Todomatsu. The two brothers stared at him blankly while he closed his eyes and held his chin in his own hand.

“I believe it is time to take arms against these beasts. Valiant knights, armed with the power of LOVE! HEH.”

“. . . What?” all three of you said, exactly at the same time.

“We should get weapons to defend ourselves.” Karamatsu corrected himself with a sigh.

It was a good idea, but what exactly would count as weapons against these things? Jyushimatsu had his baseball bat, you supposed you'd have to find some things around this place. The question was, what would be useful to take them down. They were robots, probably, judging by how the one from before lost it's head and the other was left with a dent in the side of it's own.

“We don't really have anything here.” you said, glancing slightly towards Karamatsu. He already looked like he was in deep thought, trying to think of things that could be used. Your attention momentarily drifted towards the window, listening to the faint sounds of burning fires, occasional gunfire and screams in the distance. You thought, just for a moment, that maybe using guns wouldn't be too bad, but the memory of Ichimatsu's death flashed through your mind, and you quickly disregarded going anywhere near one. Not that you couldn't handle it, it would just be . . . painful.

Karamatsu vanished at some point while you were lost in your thoughts, you looking around to try and find him, only to have something pushed into your hands. It was a crowbar, fairly heavy so holding it with that injured hand wasn't gonna be an option but you'd still be able to swing with the other. Karamatsu shoved something else into Choromatsu's hands, a large sledge hammer that was almost as tall as him. Todomatsu? A shovel was pushed into his unprepared hands, he nearly dropping it since he had been clinging to his phone.

“These will be sufficient for our crusade!” he said, pride in his voice.

“What about you?” you asked, noticing he didn't quite have a weapon himself.

“Heh.” he smirked, eyes closed and fingers pressed just slightly against his forehead. He opened one eye to look at you with that smug expression. “I don't need a weapon, my striking good looks will intimidate them into submission.”

You stared at him with knitted brows and mouth slightly agape, until Choromatsu shoved the sledgehammer into his hands.

“You're better off with this than I am.” he muttered, eyes half lidded. He'd find something else if he needed.

“E-Eh?” Karamatsu looked down at the hammer while you gave a gentle pat to his shoulder with the only hand you had available. A little painful to do but he deserved it.

“Alright, Jyushimatsuuuuwhat are you wearing?” You turned to face Jyushimatsu, only to see him in . . . a dog suit? How in the . . . why was he-- You know what? Questioning anything he did wasn't worth the effort to try and figure out why, so you simply just shook your head and pointed towards the front door. Not sure where he was stowing that baseball bat but again, something you didn't want to delve into. As if he actually was a trained dog, he followed your word-less command and dashed out the front door, you looking to his brothers who all shrugged and followed after him.

So Mononeko had tried to turn this city into an entire killing game? The goal was to survive, but for how long? Whatever the case of it was, the first and most important thing was to get your notebook back. Jyushimatsu was already on the trail, running ahead and-- oh, he was actually sniffing around for a scent. A little weird but more things you weren't going to question. It was Jyushimatsu, questioning his actions was like questioning why the sky was blue or why grass is green. Whatever his methods were, he apparently had a trail because he was pretty focused on going in a certain direction.

You were trying to keep up, once again you were showing reason as to why you should get into shape, or at least learn a bit of endurance. Why was he so fast? You nearly tripped over a piece of broken pavement before you were caught moments before wiping out. You looked up to see Choromatsu holding your good hand around the crowbar, keeping you from falling.

“O-Oh, thanks.” you wheezed out, he making a slight smile and nod before pulling you to your feet. And into his arms. Held against him. He had picked you up and was now running with you in his arms so you weren't falling behind, and your face immediately blushed bright red in response.

“C-Choromatsu! I-I can run!” which wasn't a lie but that didn't exactly mean you could keep up.

“It's okay, we need to find your notebook, right? If we don't keep up, we'll lose Jyushimatsu, so I'll carry you.” he insisted. You stared off to the side as your blush only got worse. Normally only Karamatsu held you like this. Why were you getting all blushy over this dork anyway? You were already dating his brother. Not that this was implying anything! Your mind was so boggled from your own actions that you didn't even notice that Choromatsu had stopped running. By the time you did, your head lifted to look at him.

“W-What's wrong?”

“. . . I lost them.”

“Eh?!”

You looked around quickly and . . . Karamatsu, Todomatsu, Jyushimatsu? They were nowhere in sight. How did you managed to lose them so quickly?!

“What do we do?” you asked as Choromatsu slowly lowered you back down to your feet.

“I . . . I don't know.” he said, gulping hard. You stared at him, gaze shifting slightly when you saw movement in the corner of your eye. Mononeko were starting to come out from every direction, low growls, snickering laughs. You pushed yourself closer to Choromatsu as the beasts were starting to circle, eyes wide from the sight of blood stained fur on almost all of them. What the hell was this crowbar going to do against all of these things?

“H-Here.” you squeaked out, pushing the weapon into Choromatsu's hands. Like he was going to have any better of a time using it than you would. He stared down at it, tightening his grip around the metal before he positioned himself at ready. He had done this before, risked his life for others. Now he was going to do it for you.

He kept you behind him as three of the beasts circled to face him, each one roaring out in unison before making the leap to attack.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story will be a little slower to update since I don't have random assignments for it, however I might brainstorm ideas and put them into a random generator like I did for the last story in this series. It seemed to help keep me on track which is weird but I'll take what I can get. I have a terrible attention span and anything that helps keep me on track is welcomed with open arms.


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